Pushing Boundaries, Flying Higher

This is the title of a conference I’m organising on the 21 March at the University of Salford.  It’s all about the young adult novel. Does it push boundaries? Does it become ever more excellent?

Arguably the young adult novel has always existed as has the young adult, though neither were recognised or named until recently. As we moved into the 21st century there was an explosion in the number of young adult novels being read and written.

This conference explores the nature of this energetic novel form and asks writers, readers, academics, educationalists, those who work with young people and other interested parties the following questions of the young adult novel:

• Who are its readers?
• What is its nature?
• Which are its themes?
• What does it look like now?
• How is it written?
• Why does it exist?
• Will it endure?
• What will it look like in the future?

The conference is aimed at academics, writers, teachers, parents and school librarians.    

Keynote speakers are Melvin Burgess and Nicola Morgan.

There is still some more room for a few academic papers on the above themes or for session suitable for educationalists and writers. We do have content for the whole day but can look at parallel sessions. If you’re interested in offering any of these, contact me via the contact form on this blog.

If you’d just like to sign up for the conference, you can do so here.             

    

Writers write and create worlds – as shown by the Inkheart trilogy

The Inkheart theory

I’ve just finished reading the third of the Inkheart trilogy and it’s given me some food for thought. Whilst I didn’t enjoy it as much as the other two – the fantasy has become a little convoluted, the point of view changes too often, and there are some strange interjections by the author – Cornelia Funke certainly poses a few questions about the role of the writer.

In this third book two writers compete to finish the story and the characters also express their wishes for an outcome. Fengolio, the original author, is getting old and losing his craft. Orpheus wants full control of the world he has partly stolen from Fengolio and partly created himself. 

Can writers live without the internet?

Well, I’m pretty taken with it but others seem even more attached. I’m not one of those people that are forever checking the phone for Tweets, emails and Facebook messages. If I’m out and about or teaching, the world can wait. However, at my desk or alone in a hotel or on a journey I’ll look at it all at regular intervals and both my mobile and my laptop alert me when a new email comes in – and my emails tell me if I have new Tweets or Facebook messages.